Chong+LMF+Analysis

//Learning Motivation and Fun//


What are your 5 generalizations?

 * 1) ****The vast majority of learners reported that challenging learning activities were “fun”.** For example, Whitney described her experience of learning to mountain bike down a steep hill, Leo described taking a gymnastics class in college that had a high failure rate and turned many people away from his major, and Lisa mentioned how learning to decorate a cake was harder than she expected. Of all learners, only 14% (22/161) described their activity as “easy”. This generalization was true amongst nearly all ages. Only the 50-59 age group had more than 25% of learners call their experience “easy” with 40% (2/5) selecting “easy” for their activity. This anomaly might be attributed to the low number of learners in that age group rather than a true difference in learning styles. This generalization applied most consistently to the 20-29 age group where only 6% (3/52) of learners classified their learning experience as “easy”. The implication for our work is that our games/training must be challenging enough to maintain the interest of our learners, but not so complex that learners are turned off to the experience.


 * 2) ****The majority of learners reported that physical activity was an element in the experiences they called "fun".** For example, Aurora’s described her ballroom dancing class at SDSU, Casey described improving her wakeboarding skills in Mission Bay, and Joe described going to an ice skating rink to learn about Physics. Overall, 105/161 experiences were graded as medium (43) or high (62) physical movement activities. This generalization was slightly more true for males (68% medium/high physical activity) than for females (63% medium/high physical activity), but remained consistent over nearly all age groups with only the 10-19 age group falling below 60% medium/high physical activity coming in at 56%. The implication for our work is that the traditional learning format where instructors pour information into the heads of learners who sit in one place and take notes is not considered a “fun” activity by most learners. Physical movement by learners keeps them alert and engaged.


 * 3) ****Most “fun” learning experiences take place with non-intimidating instructors who are highly enthusiastic about the content.** Of the 138 people that answered the question, 115 agreed that their instructor had a low degree of intimidation. That is a whopping 83% of respondents. Only seven instructors were rated as having a high degree of intimidation. Of those seven instructors, all seven demonstrated a high level of enthusiasm for the topic they were teaching and six out of seven had a high energy level. Of the 145 people that rated their instructor’s enthusiasm level, 105 (72%) indicated their instructor’s enthusiasm was high. Only eight people rated their instructor’s enthusiasm as low. The implication for our work is that the attitude and demeanor of an instructor can have a significant effect on learning.


 * 4) ****Competition and social recognition in “fun” learning experiences matters most to younger learners and groups.** The large majority (27 out of 32) of learners that documented an experience in which competition was considered highly important were 29 years of age and younger. Of the 32 learners that participated in highly competitive learning activities, 28 people experienced their learning as a member of a group. In learning experiences where social recognition was deemed highly important, 28 of 37 learners were 29 years of age and younger. Of those 37 learners, all but four were with other learners when the experience took place. In one example, Dan described a relay competition at a Boy Scout camp when he was 10 or 11 years old in which teams of scouts had to demonstrate their proficiency at tying knots, first aid, survival techniques, and trivia in a competition against other teams. He brought up the level of competition in the event amongst the different Boy Scout troops and even amongst different teams in the same troop. The implication for our teaching and design work is that competition and social recognition amongst peers is one way to accomplish higher levels of learning achievement, particularly for groups of younger learners.


 * 5) ****A funny instructor makes an experience “fun” for the learner.** Of the 137 learners that responded to the question, 106 indicated that their teacher used at least some humor in their instruction. One example is Holly who learned musical rhythms at the age of 9 by using words like hot dog, hamburger, ketchup, mustard, and motorcycle. Another example is Austin who went through a course to become a boat Captain in St. Thomas in which his instructor, who happened to be friends with all of his students, used humor and a relaxed environment to promote “fun” learning. Of the 43 learners that stated their instructor used a lot of humor in their courses, a higher percentage (63%) were female than male.